REPRODUCTION IN SOME POA SPECIES

Abstract

The writer has demonstrated through breeding experiments repeated over three years, that Poa arctica R. Br., Poa alpigena Fr. Lindm., Poa alpina L. from Greenland as well as Poa alpina L. from Georgian Bay, Ontario, and a race of Poa pratensis L. from Gaspé, Quebec, are all apomictic (parthenogenic) and pseudogamous. In pseudogamy the pollen tube enters the stigma and activates the apomictic embryo sac to development, but it does not as a rule enter the ovarian tissue to achieve fertilization of the ovule. Pollen from any one species germinated readily and with a high percentage on the stigmas of any one of the others. Pollen sterility did not exceed 2%.